Vacation

Born and living in London, but educated in Nigeria, Shonibare has posed as a black Victorian dandy, parodied the seriousness of the formal Modernist tradition of Western painting by using canvases with patterns of "African" fabrics, and dressed mannequins in Victorian costumes made out of those same fabrics. The history of these textiles is a key feature of Shonibare's art, enabling him to raise q…